Sitharaman holds virtual meeting with IMF chief

NEW DELHI, FEB 9

(IANS): During a virtual meeting with IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said that debt discussions will be at the forefront during the forthcoming meeting of the G20 Finance Ministers Central Bank Governors (FMCBGs) slated to be held in Bengaluru later this month. India will continue to support the ongoing efforts for orderly and timely implementation of the common framework, the Minister said during the meeting.

Along with addressing debt vulnerabilities, Sitharaman and Georgieva also discussed the role of IMF and other relevant international

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NEW DELHI, FEB 9

Govt willing to give cooking gas subsidy if global prices fall: Puri

Nirmala Sitharaman

organisations to develop a globally coordinated approach on the regulation of crypto assets. Georgieva congratulated India on its strong economic performance in challenging global times as well as its role at the forefront of digitalisation of the economy, especially in the area of digital payments.

The finance minister

LIC’s net income jumps to Rs 8,334.2 cr in Q3

MUMBAI, FEB 9 (PTI): Public sector insurer LIC on Thursday reported manifold jump in net income at Rs 8,334.2 crore during the three months ended December 2022 as against Rs 235 crore a year ago. The Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) earned Rs 1,11,787.6 crore in net premium income during the reporting quarter as against Rs 97,620.34 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a regulatory filing. The numbers are strictly not comparable as the insurer was not a publicly traded company earlier.

LIC’s income from investments rose to Rs 84,889 crore from Rs 76,574.24 crore a year ago, the filing said. Its investments into the crisis-ridden Adani Group has been under tremendous criticism even though the value of the investment of close to Rs 36,000 crore are still in the green despite those shares losing almost 60 per cent of their value since January 25.

During the post-earnings call, LIC Chairman M R Kumar said that after provisioning for transferring Rs 2,000 crore from the surplus to the shareholders fund, the net income is Rs 6,334.2 crore.

thanked the IMF for the support that it had been providing to the G20 Indian Presidency on various work streams under the G20 Finance Track. Both the leaders also expressed solidarity with those affected by the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. Sitharaman conveyed India’s immediate support to the natural disaster through deployment of NDRF and medical teams under Operation Dost. Georgieva deeply appreciated India’s contribution of $50 million for South Asia Regional Training and Technical Assistance Centre (SARTTAC), which is a partnership between IMF and India.

Christians under attack in country: Cong

(From p-1)

She feared that Nagaland would face the same fate since BJP was riding piggyback on NDPP and formed the government. She claimed that the party wanted to weaken and wipe out NDPP by forming alliance with other parties.

She also accused Rio of having ties with Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma whom she alleged was attacking tribals and Christians. She pointed out that this was the true face of BJP-NDPP combine.

She declared that Congress would fight against such forces till the end and appealed to people of Nagaland to open their eyes and realise that this time they should vote for her party because it was the only secular party that always stood for people of Nagaland and every community.

She also questioned why Rio and Sarma did not speak to Central leaders and urge them to take action against JDSSM.

Paul further accused BJP-RSS and their affiliated organisations of attacking churches and minority community members and cited several incidents of alleged BJP attacks on Christians like in Meghalaya on October 6, 2019, Legal Rights Observatory (LRO), a legal rights body affiliated with RSS, urging Union Housing & Urban Affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri not to allot land to Presbyterians to build a church in New Delhi, LRO launching a massive campaign against Christianity in Meghalaya on October 3, 2021 and attack on a prayer house at Roorkee, Uttarakhand, where a mob of about 250 people, including members of BJP, Bajrang Dal and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), ransacked the prayer house.

(IANS): Twitter will charge Rs 650 per month for its Blue service with verification on the web and Rs 900 on Android and iOS mobile devices in India, the company has confirmed. Twitter Blue has now been extended to India, Brazil and Indonesia.

Elon Musk-run Twitter is also offering a discounted annual plan of Rs 6,800 per year in India, which translates to approximately Rs 566.67 per month. With India launch, Twitter Blue is now available in 15 global markets including the US, Canada, Japan, the UK and Saudi Arabia.

Earlier this month, the micro-blogging platform Twitter expanded its Blue service subscription service to six more countries.

In December last year, Twitter relaunched its Blue subscription service with verification, costing $8 for Android users and $11 for iPhone owners per month globally.

Twitter has now begun allowing Blue subscribers in the US to create long tweets of up to 4,000 characters. Twitter Blue subscribers will also see 50 per cent fewer ads in their home timeline.

With Blue checkmarks, Twitter Blue features offer subscribers a way to enhance and customise their Twitter experience which include custom app icons, custom navigation, top articles, undo tweet, longer video upload and more. Musk has now said that all legacy verified accounts will soon lose their Blue badges as those are ‘deeply corrupted’.

NEW DELHI, FEB 9 (IANS): If international gas prices come down, the government could give relief to consumers on cooking gas through subsidy, the Parliament was told on Thursday.

Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri said in Lok Sabha during Question Hour on Thursday that the government imports 60 per cent of the total domestic requirement of gas.

“There is a (existing) subsidy of Rs 200. What is this subsidy? It is tax payer’s money... The ones who are most vulnerable, we are always ready to help if it is left to this House and the honourable Prime Minister. It would be ideal if the international or the Saudi Contract Price could further come down from $750.

Hardeep Puri

It would enable domestic LPG to be sold at even more economical rates,” he said.

“The import price is linked to what is called the Saudi Contract Price.

“The interesting thing is that the Saudi Contract Price during the last two years or so - if we have to use this as a reference period - has gone up from $250 per metric tonne to something like $900 per metric tonne. Today also, I think it is around $751 per metric tonne,” Puri added, while replying to a starred question on providing greater subsidy to people on cooking gas.

Despite rising international gas prices, the minister said the government is sensitive to the requirements of the consuming population.

“We did not allow the cost of domestic LPG to increase. Saudi Contract Price went up by 333 per cent and yet the price increased was very small for the domestic LPG,” Puri said in his response.

Even during the pandemic, when the poor were suffering due to the lockdown, the government gave three cylinders free of cost to them, he told the House.

Failure in negotiations led to Assembly polls: Rio

(From p-1)

However, with the political groups coming together and issuing statement, he said solution seemed to be getting closer and everyone was feeling positive about that.

He said development was hindered in the State and talented people deprived from the opportunity to realise their potential due to Naga political issue.

Meanwhile, narrating the sequence of allotting two tickets to women candidates, Rio claimed that NDPP believed in giving equal opportunities to everyone, gender equality and women empowerment.

He also emphasised on women empowerment and gender equality.

Citing the example of Rano Shaiza, the first Naga woman to represent the State in Lok Sabha in 1977 from Khonoma village, he expressed joy to see Salhoutuonuo from Khonoma standing on behalf of the people.

He commented that history would be created if women members got elected to Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA), adding that “this is just the beginning.”

He asserted that electing women as legislators would herald a major change in policy and decision-making process.

Stating that NDPP had allotted ticket to Salhoutuonuo with the hope that people of 8-Western Angami AC would elect her, he pointed out that it was every individual’s responsibility to elect an able leader.

On Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation’s (ENPO) demand for Frontier Nagaland, Rio admitted that the demand had started in November 2010 and that the State cabinet held meetings and constituted a fact-finding committee headed by chief secretary which found that the organisation’s claims of poor infrastructure and lack of development were true.

Empathising with ENPO’s grievances, he pointed out that the State government had recommended an autonomous council in

2011 and had even written a letter to the Central government in this regard.

He claimed that the organisation had decided to participate in the election process after conclusion of talks, though he refused to divulge the contents due to the Model Code of Conduct and assured that the State government would do whatever possible to ameliorate the eastern region. He admitted that injustice was done because of the previous census and hoped that with delimitation, justice would be delivered by increasing the number of Assembly constituencies to 80 and parliamentary seats (3 Lok Sabha seats, one each for Eastern Nagaland area, Central Nagaland and Tenyimia area).

Alleging that the Central government did not sanction funds for maintaining roads, while the State did not have resources, Rio assured that more ways and means would be explored to generate revenue when the next govern-

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He informed that during the last cabinet meeting, it was decided to give priority to roads by setting aside Rs 50 crore for road maintenance.

For developments to take place, he advocated a cordial relation with the Centre and proper allocation of State funds.

Further, Rio pointed out that oil exploration could not be carried out in the State due to Naga political issue and though it was done once, it had to be put on halt since 1994. He remarked that if Nagas had to wait for freedom, they would end up with nothing and therefore called for taking up the issue on priority.

Referring to NDPP’s manifesto of focusing on merit and transparency, he assured that all appointments would be made through proper channel

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He clarified that Nagaland Staff Selection Board’s (NSBB) exam result could not be declared because of elections, but claimed that it was conducted in a transparent manner. He pointed out that people who wanted jobs had to strive hard and not depend on backdoor appointments. He noted that if anything went wrong, the matter would be taken to court and everything would come to a halt.

In her address, Salhoutuonuo shared her vision for youth, women empowerment, equal infrastructure development and representation of both urban and rural areas, skill development and employment, improvement in quality of life of the people through good governance, peace and security and creating a model constituency.

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Snippets

Four dead in Indonesia quake

JAKARTA, FEB 9

(IANS): At least four people were dead and several houses and buildings destroyed after a 5.4-magnitude earthquake jolted Indonesia’s Papua province on Thursday, a disaster agency official said. “The quake damaged houses, a restaurant and buildings.

Four people were killed during the earthquake.

Now we are carrying out risk assessments of the quake,” the official told Xinhua news agency.

4 dead after storm hits Rio de Janeiro

RIO DE JANEIRO, FEB

9 (IANS): At least four people, including a twoyear-old girl, were killed after a severe storm triggered flooding and landslides in the Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro city, authorities said. According to local disaster reduction authorities, the storm dumped an estimated 70 per cent of February’s rainfall in one night, reports Xinhua news agency.

Malian army kills 34

terrorists

BAMAKO, FEB 9 (IANS): Thirty-four terrorists were killed in a special operation launched against the GAT (Armed Terrorist Groups) during the night of February

6-7 in the Korientze area in the Mopti region of central Mali, the General Staff of the Malian Armed Forces said in a statement. According to the statement released on Wednesday, the operation also resulted in the confiscation of large quantities of arms and ammunition, including AK-47 rifles, and anti-tank rocket launchers, Xinhua news agency reported.

Russia launches cargo ship to int’l space station

MOSCOW, FEB 9 (IANS): Russia has successfully launched the Progress MS-22 cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos said.

The Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:15 a.m. Moscow time, Roscosmos said in a press release, Xinhua news agency reported.

Terrorist killed in Pakistan’s Punjab

ISLAMABAD, FEB 9 (IANS): A terrorist was killed while three others fled the site during an operation by the counter-terrorism department (CTD) in Pakistan’s Punjab province on Wednesday night, a spokesperson from the department told media. The CTD raided a hideout of the terrorists by acting on an intelligence tip-off regarding their presence in the compound, the spokesperson added.